Mark and Michelle In Town; Dad's 90th Birthday Celebration

Since some of the other grandsons got to go to a football game with their grandpa, Spencer decided he wanted to go to one as well. Thankfully, there was an afternoon football game in Provo while the weather was still warm.

My question is was it something that Spencer would want to do again???

Glen and I got our Covid booster and flu shots on the same day. We wanted to be sore and miserable together. Sure enough, our arms were sore for several days and we were miserable for the next 24 hours. But, that didn't keep us from doing all the things we had planned that next day. 

We were definitely glad when the yucky feeling subsided. But, alas, the arm where I got my Covid booster was very red, swollen and itchy. I consulted Google:

If you had a red, itchy, swollen, or painful rash where you got a Covid-19 shot, you should still get another shot at the scheduled date and time. This applies to second, additional, or booster shots.

These rashes can start a few days to more than a week after your shot and are sometimes quite large. These rashes are also known as "COVID arm." Your vaccination provider may recommend that you get your next Covid-19 vaccine in the opposite arm if possible.

Mark planned a fun weekend trip to Utah for Michelle's birthday. They joined Dad, Mom, Nani and me at Hale to watch a play. It was such a fun and funny play which we all enjoyed very much. 

After dining at Texas Roadhouse, Mark was anxious to go to Dad and Mom's home to see the big elk hanging on their wall. Mark jokingly referred to the dead, stuffed animal as "the lucky stiff." 

Glen was in Las Vegas on his boys' trip, so he missed seeing the play when Mark and Michelle were here. But, lucky for us, Dallas and Rebecca invited us to see a play with them in Centerville when Glen got back home. We went to dinner at Hug-Hes Cafe before the play.

We watched Kade and Levi one afternoon. The little boys liked the Halloween kitty cats.

They LOVE running around the house with someone chasing them. 

Glen did the chasing and I did the ball throwing in the basement. 

The boys loved crawling into the entertainment center cupboard and pushing the door open. Cuties!

While we are on the subject of cute kids, I got a good laugh out of this conversation between Sarah and Lincoln. 

Jan was begging all the friends to come to a fall dinner party at her house. When she asks, we comply. No begging needed!!! We love to go to her home because the food is always delicious, and I especially love seeing her beautiful table setting. As usual, I was not disappointed. 

Such great friends!! Rick and Debi Winder had left before the picture was taken. 

(Me, Glen, Bruno Kossin, Lane Lewis, Jane Crandall, LaVona Lewis, Colleen Kossin, Jan Evans, and in the back is Bill Evans and Dennis Crandall.)

Now let's talk about Dad for a minute. My father turned 90 years old and it was a cause for celebration!

We invited the whole family to our home for a surprise dinner party. Nani brought the festive balloons.

Amanda is quite the cake decorator and made the cutest elk/forest birthday cake.

Of course Dad loved it, as did we all. It was not only very appropriately decorated to Dad's liking, but it was also very delicious.

After dinner, we all congregated in the dining and living room to have a tribute given by each of Dad's children.

Following our remarks, Dad took a few minutes to share his feelings and his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was very special for us all to hear. 

Dad has been a positive influence in so many people's lives. Not only our family, but those he has worked with, served with and provided service for. What a great man and a beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather. 

The three of the four beanbags in our basement needed to be repaired so the beans would not escape, and all four of them needed some bean replenishment. Glen tried ordering the little white beans online, but no such luck. 

He was able to get some bags of tiny, shredded, blue foam to stuff and plump those things up. It turned out to be a messy project, but once the job was done and Glen had vacuumed up the basement, it felt like it was worth it. 

Now we are anxious to see what the grandchildren say about the once-nearly-flattened beanbag chairs. 

Another little basement project--taking the broken treadmill apart so we can get rid of it. Sad day when it died, but Glen did not want to pay to have someone come out and take a look at it.

Glen's sisters decided to shake it up a bit and go somewhere we have never been before--Rainbow Gardens. 

This place holds a lot of childhood memories for me--worst of which was taking swimming lessons for three years in a row and being so terrified of the water that I never learned how to swim. UGH!! 

Another memory is my friend Ann and I wanted to go swimming, so we walked from our house up and over the mountain and on our way down to Rainbow Gardens, I fell and cut my knee. I have had a scar ever since to remind me of that incident.

The swimming pool has been long since drained and there is a gift store in where the pool used to be and a restaurant called The Greenery where we ate and had a nice time visiting together.

We have seen three of our missionaries recently: Brooke Nielson,

Parker Nokes and his fiance Emily, 

and Charlotte Peterson.

I have the sweetest friends! We always do lunch whenever one of us has a birthday. Diane invited us all to her home for my birthday luncheon. 

(LaVona Lewis, Jan Evans, Jane Crandall and Diane Stewart. Debi Winder came later.)

Glen took me to Texas Roadhouse where I cashed in on my free birthday treat. No matter the free deal--the thing I ALWAYS love best at that restaurant is the ROLLS!!!!!!!

Quotes of the Week

 Have you felt His love deep in your soul? We can pray to have our eyes opened to see His hand in our lives.

--Susan H. Porter

We should help our children and youth feel the love of Jesus Christ in their lives, even when they struggle to personally feel love for themselves.

Erich W. Kopischke

With all the energy of my soul, I invite all of us to learn, live, and love principles of righteousness.

--David A. Bednar

Ordinances of the temple fill our lives with power and strength available in no other way. We thank God for those blessings.

--Russell M. Nelson

Boys' Trip to Las Vegas--Fun Times!

Glen was excited about the upcoming trip to Las Vegas he had planned to do with our sons. Ben brought his orange car up to leave for me to have a car while they left together in our car.

Little side note--as I was packing up the orange car on Saturday night with the supplies I was taking to the prison early Sunday morning, I realized my prison badge was in our white car that was in Vegas. Uh oh!! That meant no prison for me. 

The positive of that happening was I was able to attend our ward. Also, I had thought of the missing badge on Saturday evening, so I was able to sleep in on Sunday for a change since our ward starts at 10:30 a.m. 

Meanwhile, back to the boys' trip... 

Traffic and construction caused Glen and Ben to be delayed 1 1/2 hours in traffic outside of Mesquite. They were originally going to pick up Jacob at the airport, but since they were delayed, Sarah went to the airport to get Jacob.

Glen and Ben stopped at Raising Cane's and then met at Sarah's for dinner. 

Sarah made another trip to the airport later that evening to pick up Abe's family. 

Ben went to the airport at the same time so he could get Abe and take him back to the hotel where Glen, Jacob and Ben were staying. Klarissa and the children went to stay at Sarah's house.

Breakfast the first day was at the hotel. 

First thing on the agenda was ATV riding in the desert.

Next activity was Top Golf where they had lunch while they enjoyed competing with each other for top score.

Sarah and Klarissa spent that day taking their children on an adventure to see Hoover Dam. It looks like Wynne doesn't mind spending time with that bunch of boys.

While Glen and the boys were waiting for their next activity, they did a little touring on the strip.

The next activity was an escape room entitled Prison Break. Little irony there since Glen and I spend so much time at the prison these days.

This is a company Abe is working with to raise equity funding for, so he wanted to try it out. Ben is an escape-room genius, so they were all on board.

Two additional people, a mother and her son, were added to their group. They were divided up because the escape room started in two separate cells. 

They worked together to get out of their cells and then they worked as a team to solve the rest of the challenges to escape from prison.

The feelings of success of escaping the prison where only 30% of the attempts are successful.

All that work created an appetite, so they went to Glen's favorite buffet at the Wynn.

Next they joined up with Klarissa and her children, and Sarah's family at the BYU Cougar Club sponsored activity. It was held at a park close to Sarah's home.

The grandchildren loved meeting Cosmo.

The evening was finished off with game night back at the hotel.

Saturday morning started off with a virtual reality zombie attack activity.

Ben was the master shooter. 

Glen was the most accurate with his shots, but killed the least. They were proud to say they rescued the citizens from the zombies. They were bragging that they were in the top 50% of the people who have been successful in rescuing the citizens.

Glen and the boys still had some time before the big football game (the real purpose for the boys' weekend), and so they tried another escape room. This one was a wizard-themed escape room. 

They were proud to say they were yet again successful. 

Glen and the boys made a quick stop at In-N-Out before they picked up Jeff, Eli, Carson and Newland and headed to the football game. 

Glen said it was a great game, but sadly BYU was not successful in pulling out the victory over Notre Dame. The grandsons loved being in the stadium and participating in all the cheers led by Jacob.

Sarah made another run to the airport with Abe's family late that evening so they could fly back to North Carolina.

I am sure Abe was sad to miss Sarah's talk that she gave at 7 a.m. Sunday morning in the leadership session of their stake conference.

Glen, Ben and Jacob all went to hear Sarah speak. She did a fabulous job and got some nice compliments on her inspired talk. 

Glen and Ben left right after Sarah spoke to make the drive back home. Fortunately, there were no traffic delays this time. 

Jacob spent the Sabbath Day with Sarah's family until it was time for him to be taken to the airport for his return flight to Omaha.

Ben sent this photo of his boys when he got back to his home. He sure missed his boys while he was gone.

One thing is for certain--Glen had such a fun time with his boys. Abe had done such a great job planning all the fun activities. All the guys were having a great time together. 

It was certainly a memorable experience for Glen, and I am sure each one of our sons can say the same thing.